The Johns Hopkins University announced last week that
it will provide full-tuition scholarships to graduates of
Baltimore City public schools accepted into the
university's undergraduate programs.

President William R. Brody said the university's new
Baltimore Scholars Program, to start with the class
entering Johns Hopkins in fall 2005, will give the city
schools' best and brightest students the opportunity to
stay near home and study at one of America's premier
universities.

"Baltimore is Johns Hopkins' home, and Baltimore's
future is our future," Brody said. "The Baltimore Scholars
Program is one more step the university can take to support
our city and especially our public schools."

The announcement was made June 2 at Dunbar High
School, where President Brody was joined by Mayor Martin
O'Malley and Bonnie Copeland, chief executive officer of
Baltimore City Public Schools.

The new Baltimore Scholars Program — first
envisioned by the university's Commission on Undergraduate
Education — is open to applicants who have been
Baltimore City public high school students for at least
three years, have been residents of Baltimore City for at
least the previous three years and are accepted as
first-year full-time undergraduates in the university's
Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, Whiting School of
Engineering or Peabody Conservatory of Music.

Baltimore Scholars who are accepted to transfer after
their sophomore year from one of those three schools into
the university's junior-senior-only School of Nursing may
do so and transfer their scholarships as well.

Eligible students who cannot or do not wish to pursue
full-time undergraduate study may still qualify as
Baltimore Scholars. Up to three Baltimore Scholars annually
will be selected from applicants for the part-time
undergraduate programs in business or information systems
at the university's School of Professional Studies in
Business and Education. Baltimore Scholars in SPSBE will
typically begin study at Johns Hopkins after completing the
equivalent of 60 undergraduate credits elsewhere, often by
earning an associate's degree at a community college.

All Baltimore Scholars' scholarships will be renewed
until they graduate, provided that they continue to meet
academic and course load requirements. The scholarships do
not require any showing of financial need, but full-time
Baltimore Scholars may apply for additional need-based
financial aid to cover room, board and expenses.

Mayor O'Malley described the program as a testament to
Hopkins' commitment to the people of Baltimore.

"Sometimes in the city," he said, "there is a sense
that neighbors and institutions are not on the same page.
You have clearly demonstrated that you are on the same
page.

"This is no small thing," he said. "You are saying
that you expect kids to be bright and talented enough to
make it to Hopkins. You are saying that there is a place
for them if they use their talents and the brain cells that
God gave them."

Matthew Crenson, a professor of
political science at Johns Hopkins and a graduate of
both Baltimore public schools and Johns Hopkins, will be
the lead faculty adviser for the Baltimore Scholars
Program, heading a team of faculty and administrators who
will support the program. Crenson, who attended Johns
Hopkins as an undergraduate, said he will be available to
offer both academic and personal advice and will organize
regular meetings of the scholars so that they get to know
each other and build a strong group presence at the
university.

"My job will be to make sure that they make a
successful transition from high school to the university,"
he said. "I will be somebody they will be able to talk
to."

Speaking of the Baltimore Scholars program, Crenson
said, "It's good not just for Johns Hopkins; it's good for
Baltimore. It means some of the ablest city students will
go to university in Baltimore, and I think that increases
the chances that in the long run they'll give something
back to Baltimore."

The precise monetary value of the first Baltimore
Scholarships is not yet known because tuition for the
2005-2006 academic year has not yet been set. The yearly
tuition this fall, however, will be $30,140 for Arts and
Sciences and Engineering, $27,000 for Peabody, $22,224 for
Nursing and up to $400 a credit hour at SPSBE.

The university will fund the Baltimore Scholarships
from a combination of internal and external sources,
building on a foundation laid by some existing scholarships
designated for city residents, including ones endowed by
the Baltimore-based Goldseker Foundation and by
PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The total cost of the program will depend on the
number of students who apply and are accepted under the
university's regular admissions standards. In recent years,
the number of Baltimore public school graduates in the
freshman classes in Arts and Sciences, Engineering and
Peabody has averaged around four. This fall, as a result of
already intensified recruiting in city schools, there are
expected to be seven Baltimore public school graduates in
those classes. The university hopes that the Baltimore
Scholars Program will further increase the number. Other
than in SPSBE, however, there is no set goal for or cap to
the number of Baltimore Scholars. The university hopes to
be able to raise sufficient funds to ensure that the
program will remain available to all eligible students as
the program succeeds and the number of Baltimore applicants
grows in future years.

The university is announcing the Baltimore Scholars
Program now so that current Baltimore high school juniors
and their parents can take it into account in planning
their college searches, which will begin in earnest this
summer and fall, said John Latting, director of undergraduate admissions at the
university's Homewood campus, where the schools of Arts and
Sciences and Engineering are located.

The university will reach out to students, families,
teachers, counselors and principals to encourage potential
Baltimore Scholars to apply, Latting said. A regular
admissions application to the appropriate Johns Hopkins
school is all that is required of eligible students, he
said. No special application is required, though the
university will welcome special letters of recommendation
from principals, counselors and teachers specifically
addressing an applicant's suitability to be a Baltimore
Scholar. Financial aid applications are necessary for any
potential Baltimore Scholars seeking assistance with room
and board or expenses.